Category: 2020

 16:47, 2 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s ministry of education, science, culture and sport has not yet made a decision on restricting the people’s visits to cultural facilities due to the first case of novel coronavirus confirmed in Armenia, deputy minister Narine Khachaturyan told Armenpress.

“Today we had a consultation with the minister and a decision was made that contrary to the educational institutions, the cultural facilities will not close. In line with this we have information that people cancel their preliminary agreements, return their tickets. At this stage we left it up to the visitors and audience to decide whether they want to visit cultural places or not”, she said.

The deputy minister also said that today they met with the directors of museums and concert halls and they told them the same. The directors of these facilities state that many tickets are returned back, and many performances were cancelled due to lack of audience.

First case of novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Armenia on March 1. The patient arrived in Armenia from Iran.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:09, 2 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. Armenia airline cancelled Yerevan-Tel Aviv-Yerevan flights until March 22 as the citizens of Israel are returning back their tickets due to the novel coronavirus, Marketing Manager at the Armenia airline Nelli Kostandyan told Armenpress.

“Our company made a decision to cancel Yerevan-Te Aviv-Yerevan flights until March 22 as the government of Israel urged its citizens to avoid travelling as much as possible especially to those countries where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, as well as several people are returning back their tickets”, she said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 18:05, 2 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. The Republic of Artsakh is taking precautionary measures to prevent the novel coronavirus infection in the country.

Minister of State Grigory Martirosyan and Healthcare Minister Arayik Baghryan toured the medical facilities of Stepanakert and Shushi to review the hospital conditions and capacities.

Hospital executives told the officials that the clinics are fully equipped.

Minister Baghryan said they are in constant contact with authorities of Armenia over the matter.

So far, no coronavirus cases have been reported in Artsakh.

The Artsakh authorities are considering a special facility meant for isolation of patients in the event of recording cases of the COVID19.

The Minister of State called on healthcare authorities to continue the heightened actions and the awareness campaign for preventing the disease among the general public.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 17:45, 2 March, 2020

 19:28, 2 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS.  Wife of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Chairperson of the boards of trustees of My Step and City of Smile charitable foundations Anna Hakobyan hosted today daughter of the 14th Emir of Kuwait, Sheikha Hessa Saad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of Anna Hakobyan, in a warm atmosphere Sheikha Hessa Saad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah talked about her activities, particularly the Arab Council of Businesswomen, and Anna Hakobyan presented the activities of My Step and City of Smile charitable foundations, as well as the Women for Peace campaign. Presenting the goal of the campaign, Anna Hakobyan emphasized that peace is an absolute value and it’s time for women to consolidate for the sake of peace.

During the conversation, Sheikha Hessa Saad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah shared her impressions of Armenia and stressed that she visits the country with special warmth every time. She told about her Armenian grandmother, Elizabeth, who lived in Zeytun during the Armenian Genocide, and could escape the massacres finding herself in Deir ez-Zor desert where she met her future husband and the grandfather of Sheikha Hessa Saad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah. The daughter of the 14th Emir of Kuwait, Sheikha Hessa Saad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told that her Armenian grandmother played a major role in her life and constantly pushed her to get education and struggle for achieving her goals.

During the meeting the sides discussed a number of cooperation directions and reached some agreements.

Sheikha Hessa Saad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah is president of the Council of Arab Businesswomen (CABW). She is a successful entrepreneur with past work at the International Marine Petroleum Company, and within the Ministry of Defense’s Department of Medical Services.

Related to women’s empowerment in the workplace, Al-Sabah serves on several committees: Kuwait Volunteers Women Society, the Kuwait Businesswomen Committee, Arab African Woman Council, and the Women’s Affairs Committee.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

 20:03, 2 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS.  Director of Lebanon’s National News Agency  Ziad Harfouche received director of ARMENPRESS state news agency of Armenia Aram Ananyan and Ambassador of Armenia to Lebanon Vahagn Atabekyan.

ARMENPRESS reports the news agencies of the two countries expressed readiness to strengthen cooperation and discussed steps for that. The heads of the news agencies talked about technologies and development of the social media, as well as their impact on press.

The sides also discussed the opportunities for signing an agreement aimed at the development of the cooperation.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

 09:36, 3 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. The recent successful surgery and treatment of 3-year-old Iraqi Yazidi Arzinda in Yerevan inspire the organizers to continue this initiative.

The initiative of organizing the surgery and treatment of Iraqi Yazidi children in Armenia belongs to Member of Parliament Rustam Bakoyan. The lawmaker told Armenpress that with this initiative they want to make this program continuous.

“As you know the first Yazidi child transported from Iraq to Armenia underwent a surgery in the Yerevan’s Nork-Marash medical center. Currently Arzinda is recovering. We are waiting for the second and third children. The doctors of the medical center are already aware of the health condition of the second child, and currently we are solving the issue of the documents in order to organize the child’s transportation”, the MP said.

The initiative was born when Rustam Bakoyan visited Iraq after elected as lawmaker. As he says, while becoming a member of Parliament he was thinking of being useful to the Yazidi people who not only live in Armenia but also around the world. In particular to help the Yazidis of Sinjar who faced genocide in 2014. During his visit to Iraq the Armenian MP examined the problems, met with the Speaker of Parliament and the government representatives.

“After getting acquainted with the situation in Sinjar I understood that assistance is needed in the healthcare sector. In particular, to provide medical aid to the Yazidi refugees. Upon my arrival to Armenia I met with Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan, firstly we discussed the issue of sending doctors to Iraq. The minister approved this idea. We were taking concrete actions on this path, but, unfortunately, the developments in the domestic political situation of Iraq led to killings of hundreds of citizens, so there was a concern. Thus, our initiative on this part stopped”, he said. But the MP says he needed to take some action, therefore he came up with a new proposal to organize the transportation of children to from Iraq to Armenia and conduct their surgery, treatment here. This time as well Minister Torosyan approved the initiative and expressed readiness to support. Nork-Marash medical center also joined the initiative. The funding of the initiative is carried out thanks to 2019 Aurora Prize laureate Mirza Dinnayi and his Luftbrücke Irak (Air Bridge Iraq) organization.

“Here I want to state that the cost of the surgery in Armenia is quite low, is almost half. If a similar surgery was organized in Europe, it would cost higher”, he said, adding that the doctors in Armenia do everything to organize the surgery of kids at the highest level. Those children are selected who do not have an opportunity to undergo a surgery in Iraq and have the most difficult health problems. Those children are selected who need an urgent surgery. The MP said it there are cases conditioned by other diseases and it wouldn’t be possible to treat them in Iraq, he is again ready to assist and transport the patient to Yerevan.

“I can state that the Yazidi community-state cooperation is already established. This initiative, the assistance of Armenian specialists received great reactions within the Yazidi community. Let me add that many people and organizations apply for providing assistance”, MP Rustam Bakoyan said, adding that they are open to cooperation.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan